Soul

I don't want to see a bounce-back effect of people suddenly picking the Bears as the game draws near. I know it's not scientific, but look at the bad games this year: Arizona: Bears were riding high, everyone picking them for the SB. Miami: coming off the 49er slaughter, people saying the Arizona game was just a fluke for Rex and he's back on track. Pats: Bears just got done winning 2 road games in a row in NY---those NY sportscasters who all picked us to meet our waterloo had to grudgingly give respect. Actually this game wasn't really all that bad, I thought the Bears traded punch-for-punch with Belichek pretty good. Vikes: Alright I'll give you this one. We won the game but Grossman should have bounced back better from the Patriots game. Then look at the "good" games: First 5 games: Bears are just going to win the division by default, they're not really a "good" team. Giants: Bears can't beat the Giants at home, NY is the new NFC darling and will go to the Super Bowl. Jets: No way the Bears beat 2 NY teams in succession. Nobody can beat Mangenius. St. Louis: Rex sucks, he should be benched. Seattle: Rex won't get it done in the playoffs. Bears are one-and-done for sure. I don't think I'm imagining this. I think the Bears play better with the whole world against them---or at least the perception of it.

Back when it was still unclear what was happening, I'll give you that. But these past few years they've been gloming on to Bonds, stinking it up on the field-----really doing nothing of note as Barry becomes known as the seminal steroid cheat of all time. I realize some people don't think that reflects badly on the organization. For me, it really does. It reflects badly on the Cubs if they knew about Sammy's use too---although I think it's a little more obscure what the Cubs might have known and when. With the Giants, it's clear. For at least the past 3 seasons, they've been fully aware of what Barry is, and they haven't shown an ounce of concern.

Please, oh please, be collecting all this stuff and putting it on the bulletin board, Lovie. Rex plays his best when he knows everyone thinks he can't get it done. I hope that's the message he's getting this week, too. Honestly, throughout the year we've put in our bad games right when people started saying we were good.

Really? What do you base that on? Here's what I look at: First 6 games: Bears: 6-0 Saints: 5-1 Last 10 games: Bears: 7-3 Saints: 5-5 It looks to me that the Saints have struggled some, and it hasn't been reported either. When I look at the Saints lately, I see a real bad loss at home against Washington when they had the #1 seed as a possibility, and I see 2 losses in a row to Pittsburgh & Cincy, 2 non-playoff clubs. I do agree they pose problems for us and have a real good shot at this game though. But look at their actual performance lately---they're no juggernaut.

Seriously, do you really think that? The guy barely plays anymore. I want OBP too, but not at the cost of looking like an organization that will stoop to any levels. Did McGwire equal murderer's row for the Cards in his last season? That's what Barry is now. He's McGwire, juicing his last batch to eek out a few more ABs. Besides, I think Murt breaks out this season. Barry would take ABs away from Murt for absolute certain. Bonds had 15 fewer PA than Murton last year. So it doesn't make much sense to say he "barely plays anymore". He had an OPS+ of 156 last year, while Big Mac had a 106 in his last year. So it doesn't make much sense to say that's what Barry is now. The problem is when did Barry get to use his bug juice and if he's caught using it again he's out for 25 games. I think this is what the Giants and many other teams will now be thinking. Possibly. Obviously Barroid played more last year, but I found it interesting that he was crippled, questionable whether he was even going to be able to play at all, then suddenly he puts in 130 games. Then, he fails a drug test. It seems pretty clear to me what's going on. He's going to break down, just like McGwire. Just a matter of time. $15million to find out if it's with the Cubs? Hah, don't think so. I think the Gnats look like fools for giving him as much rope as they did. Don't bring that freak show to Chicago.

It's DEUCE. Jesus man, if you're going to lay some smack at least spell the guys name right. Then stop typing y'all. "Y'all" is in the dictionary. "Duece" is not. breeze is going down Tillman will shut Colstin down too.

Seriously, do you really think that? The guy barely plays anymore. I want OBP too, but not at the cost of looking like an organization that will stoop to any levels. Did McGwire equal murderer's row for the Cards in his last season? That's what Barry is now. He's McGwire, juicing his last batch to eek out a few more ABs. Besides, I think Murt breaks out this season. Barry would take ABs away from Murt for absolute certain.

"NO OFFENSE"??? Did you know we have a quarterback who has the most passing yards in the entire NFL. Had 11 games this year with a 90+ passer rating. Has only thrown one interception in his last 7 games. We have the number one passing offense in the NFL, yet without our RB's we have "no offense?" the offense begins and ends with Bush and Mccallister, if they werent there defenses would sit on the pass You could say that about damn near any team that has a decent running back. "No Offense"...my aching ass. You have better cheerleaders than we do. Well OK we don't have any. :wink:

Yeah in true, NBC Olympic-coverage style. Show some Grossman baby pictures to give it some extra punch. :lol:

yes ma'am If San Fran backs out, and Boston offers $15 million the money will talk. Not to mention Boston will have a very legit chance to win the WS. I would *hope* Bonds isn't worth $15mil now, after even the Giants shunned him, after it is now proven he failed a drug test, after all of his B.S. But, I have to admit, in today's baseball anything's possible. IMO, if Bonds sullied Aaron's record as a Cub it would curse this franchise for another 100 years. Just keep him away from Cubbie Blue, that's all I care about with this bum.

If the Bears win you're going to go crazy waiting 2 weeks instead of one. I go crazy waiting for 2 weeks for the Super Bowl regardless. IMO it's too much hype & waiting.

Hey, if we can find a Cub who is cheating, then by all means let's find another option. None of that means we should knowingly hire roid pumpers.

Agreed. Let's just play the game. Who is more or less satisfied with their '06/'07 accomplishments, and who badly wants to advance to the Super Bowl? That's what I think this one's about. I hope the Bears are the latter. 8-)

It'll be one of the biggest success stories of Jimbo's tenure as GM. Believe me, if Barroid can't lift the Giants to a WS championship, he's not going to do anything for us either.

hate to be the one to break the news about santa claus to you, but you've likely been rooting for drug users your entire life. Wow, so who cares then right? Let's hire the biggest drug user of them all, 'cuz after all everyone's doing it! Everyone's doing it anyway. So that's where we're at in this country now? Lovely.

Hah. I wasn't hallucinating in '03. Neither were you. Nobody on the planet saw Prior's current state coming. He was the Titanic: can't be sunk, mechanics are too good. But he still sunk. His talent was real. The hype was real too----but he was every bit what they said he was until the injuries.

Of course there isn't. I can't tell if you're sarcastic or not. If so, the Tribune gave the team the money to spend. It's not like they had zero say as to how it was spent, or at least knowledge of how it was going to be spent and how the contracts would be set up. I really don't see how the Cubs are suddenly on a tight budget given how they've been spending and how much money they've saved on re-signing guys like Wood, Aramis, Miller and Ohman. I don't see how anyone can know if the Cubs are at their limit. They don't report their true financial state, and their budget -- as we found out in dramatic fashion this year -- is highly arbitrary.

That's like saying it's insane to lock up Gotti. Murders and racketeering aside, that guy still knew how to make money! Are you really serious? Are you really serious? So I used an extreme example. The point still holds. How can anyone simply brush aside Bonds' obvious drug cheating just for the fact that he can eek out a few more years of performance? Is that what we're reduced to now? Just a bunch of number crunchers, ogling players for their production only, the devil be damned if they even care about having an ounce of integrity? So we should be like the Rockies then? Are you saying it's impossible to win without worshipping at the altar of Barry Bonds and his BALCO buddies?

Yes, except of course Mike Brown whose been gone since week 7 and won't be back. I can't decide what was a bigger loss for the Bears this year. Losing Brown, or losing Tommie Harris. Harris got all the pressure on the QB, but Brown was a pretty intimidating guy in the secondary. Everyone says Harris. I say Brown. There was a noticeable, immediate dropoff the moment Mike Brown went down. We were already giving up more than I was comfortable with, even when Tommie was still healthy. But look, we've essentially got 2 injured starters out of 22. That's not too bad. Yeah they hurt, but a team should still be able to carry on without every single starter healthy.

That's like saying it's insane to lock up Gotti. Murders and racketeering aside, that guy still knew how to make money! Are you really serious? Are you really serious? So I used an extreme example. The point still holds. How can anyone simply brush aside Bonds' obvious drug cheating just for the fact that he can eek out a few more years of performance? Is that what we're reduced to now? Just a bunch of number crunchers, ogling players for their production only, the devil be damned if they even care about having an ounce of integrity?

That's like saying it's insane to lock up Gotti. Murders and racketeering aside, that guy still knew how to make money! Are you really serious?

This isn't related to your post, but I love the play in your avatar. I have no idea why Rex doesn't do more of that when the pocket closes behind him. He is quicker than he gets credit for. I know. Look at the first cut he puts on the DB in that play. I would never argue Rex is a running QB, but that's not a move an "immobile" quarterback makes. Plus----don't you remember the Vikings game a couple years back when Rex blew out his knee? He was running successfully in that game, and the play he got hurt on was a TD he scored by running. I don't get it either. Kid can run if he wants to. He just doesn't.

I know we've gone over this before, but he should have been credited with a fumble in the Buffalo game, and there are a couple of other times he dropped the ball almost instantly after his knee touched down, most recently in OT last week. I'll give you the Buffalo game, but last Sunday it had nothing to do with Ced's knee or anything else like that. Benson came down arm-first, and the ground popped the ball loose. It was a clear case of the ground causing the fumble, and wasn't close to a turnover despite the overreaction of the Seahawk players. And it wasn't even reviewed. Just watched it in slo-mo last night.

I also think Benson is clearly the better back. It would be interesting to see how Ced's ypc looks if he got the opportunity to run the ball as many times as TJ does. From what I've been seeing the past few games, there is now very little difference in the pass blocking between the two.

I'll see your New Orleans psychic and raise you a Chicago psychic. http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/bears/215577,CST-SPT-vside18.article Hmm.. "Freeze New Orleans" Do as she says! We have to counter the voodoo mojo put on us by the New Orleans psychic! LOL: Alright, this whole thing has officially gone overboard.